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Eggs. Its what’s for breakfast at my house. I love me a good egg. Fried, scrambled, poached, broiled, fried(oh gosh I already mentioned that one)💙 in a frittata or in a quiche! I love them all. My favorite is by far a good ol fried over light /easy egg.

I love to partner this egg with homemade salsa or chilies and a corn tortilla. Yum.

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New thing! Starting a new blogging idea of posting my favorites. I hope to post weekly. So check back each week. 😆

This is my favorite food this week.

I am obsessed with good tomatoes in the summertime. This summer I have paired it with a gourmet classic. I mean you can get any fancier than this people.

Saltine crackers and butter.

A slice of tomato and some (not just one) saltine crackers with the best butter you can afford. Oooh this is so good. If you would like to make this wonderfulness a meal. Then add some Soppressata or Salami. Yum! Get some Italian soda or a glass of vino and enjoy your Friday.

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I’ve been gone way to long from blogging here. Allow me to introduce myself to you. I’m corine. A sometimes cook, constant wisdom seeker and full time lover of food.

Here’s what I’m cooking up today.

Carnitas (pork) Tacos

I don’t even really have a recipe except that I take a pork roast (Boston butt) slather it with kosher salt and cook it in my stoneware for hours. Oh and I do add some garlic in the crevices and sprinkles of cumin. I sit it on a bed of sliced onions and that’s about it. Just cook it to death. Oh right this piggy is already gone.😳

Shred and serve in street taco form in a grilled warmed corn tortilla with garnishes of cilantro, onions and lime squeezes.

I sometimes add avacado, and tomatoes from my garden.

Make sure you warm those corn tortillas on the griddle for that extra corn taste and deliciousness !!!

I serve mine with black beans and homemade salsa on the side. Enjoy. Make it this weekend and enjoy.

Wait, one more thing, while you eat these I recommend you listen to my new podcast on iTunes and stitcher called Rising Stories. Ok now you can enjoy.

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Hello folks. Thank you for sticking around my blog. I hope you haven’t felt neglected since I haven’t been posting much lately.

So many things are going on in my life that I thought I would catch you up. Number one is that we are about to throw a huge wedding for our daughter A. She is 22 years old and is about to marry a sweet young man in July in Nashville. My time has been spent in all things wedding for the bigger part of 2016.

Also in 2016, I ventured into two new territories. In April I accepted a corporate job as Senior Consultant for Right Management. In May, I launched a new podcast called RISING STORIES. I interview business owners and authors about how they work and live. It is a wonderfully candid conversation to get down to the ins and outs of what it takes to run a business or write a book. I am having a blast talking with different people from all walks of life. Let me know if you or someone you know should be a guest on my podcast. I am always looking for guests.

Now that you know what i have been up to why don’t you tell me what you have been doing lately. Leave me a comment, I would love to hear from you.

“I have so much on my plate. Something’s gotta give this year.” Each year I set aside time to evaluate and do an overview of how I spend my time. I know that I need to clean house and take some things off my plate. I wanted to evaluate carefully and choose wisely what needed to stay in my life and what needed to hit the road. So I decided that this year I was going to come up with a system to do just that.

Kondo suggests in her book that you take every piece of clothing you own and put it on the bed or floor. Next you pick up each item and ask yourself these questions.

Does it bring me joy?

Does it fit?

Do I wear it or is it outdated?

By using these tests you begin to eliminate and discard those items that do not bring you joy or serve you well.

This concept also works on things that have a place in our lives, commitments that fill our schedules things like book clubs, projects, volunteer work, school, new job assignments, board memberships church commitments, helping friends, PTA, seminars, conferences etc….

At the beginning of each year I evaluate what is on my plate and what responsibilities I have ahead of me. Here is the method for deciding what to keep and what to remove off my plate.

The SandiCor Method

TITLE: Take each task no matter how large or small and write each one on a sheet of paper/file or document. One page for each task.

Next add these questions to each page without answering the questions.

TIME: Note the time it takes to do this task/commitment: Day of week, duration, prep event time & post event time. Is is monthly, weekly, yearly?

POSITION: What is your position/responsibilities: What do you do for this organization?

COMPANY GOALS: What goal(s) does this group/company/organization have overall? What is their mission statement or purpose?

PERSONAL GOALS: What is your personal goal for being involved/participating with this company/organization? What do you want to get out of it? Is it money, knowledge, friendship etc…?

CONS: What are the cons? What are those things you must deal with in this position? What is the poop sandwich that you have to eat? What do you have to put up with to get to do the fun stuff?

PROS: What are the pros? What are the benefits to you. If it is a benevolence organization first answer your benefits and then add benefits to others involved.

Once you have filled out each page with the task name, you can begin to evaluate. Start with the smallest consumer of your time, i.e. volunteer work or book clubs. As you move from the smallest to the largest responsibilities you are able to see how much time you are spending as a whole. This will give you more insight as you walk through your year. Knowing what is on your plate and how much time you spend on each event/job helps you make better decisions when faced with new opportunities.

NOT ALL GREAT OPPORTUNITIES ARE MEANT FOR YOU

Next, answer all the questions and ponder the importance of them in your life. Will it stay? Should it go? Does it have a timeline or a deadline? Touch the paper, review the responsibilities, job descriptions, etc… Meditate/pray/ponder on how you will spend your time for each task. Is it worth the time spent? Does it bring you satisfaction? Does it fill a void in your life? Does it bring you happiness or peace before, during or after the task?

Do not move on to the next page/organization until you have answered all the questions for the first one. One by one dwell on the benefits and decide if it will stay or go. You may start a pile of

“Maybe I will give it a go one more year” or “Heck Yea I want to do this again.” Wherever you place your tasks make sure you think long and hard about what place it will take in your life.

Sign up for my newsletter here to receive the SandiCor Method Template for free.

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When my son was born I asked everyone if he was ok? “What I really wanted to say was “I see him doing some strange things, is he ok?” Doing things that his much older sister never did. I thought the kid had a problem. Turned out that he was just a boy.

I love my boy. He is funny, courageous, tender, and wise. “For unto whomever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” I ask more of this young man.

He walked one day and the next day he ran. He held a ball in his hands one day and the next day he dribbled (at 18 mos) it, he was taught how to make a paper airplane and the next day there were twenty flying through the air. He can do a lot of things well. So as his mother, I ask more of him.

How does that look when we are rushing around our home getting ready or driving to a soccer game? It looks like this. I ask questions and I hold him to excellence. These questions seem to be the launching pad for our discussions that bring clarity and depth to our lives. I pray it breeds a good character in him. Because I ask more of him.

Here are some of the questions

Who is the saddest person in your class? What could someone do to help him?

Will you read me my devotional Jesus Calling while I drive please?

Why do you think people become bullies?

How can I pray for you today?

How are you going to use your talents today?

What nice thing did you say to someone today?

Who is the nicest person at your school?

It’s the simple questions that activate a dialogue that bring about deep discussions. And these discussions bring MORE. More of what we should be doing in our world.

Being that one person to make someone smile.

Reaching out to someone who might be hurting so badly that they hurt others.

It’s being the young man with integrity, who seeks a higher calling.

No one is perfect, so I cannot impose an enormous task of being all things to all people. However, we can reach for a greater purpose and a better world. This son of mine is brave, he is kind and strong. I ask more of him and he rises to the call.

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My schedule has been crazy lately and it seems like I don’t have time to do anything, let alone the important things in life. The more I fret about it, the less time I seem to have. “I need more time” are the words I find myself saying. Why do I feel less than satisfied with the things that I have checked off my list? The reality of things is that we are all given 24 hours a day. Along with this reality is the fact that I choose what goes on my plate for the day. So why am I still complaining?

The realization is that I just don’t fill it with the important things first. That ol’ Franklin Covey method of adding the big rocks in to the jar, then small pebbles, then the sand and finally just when you think the jar is as full as it is gonna get you fill it with water to the brim. That is what I have been doing with my days lately and it has made a big change in my outlook.

Inspiration

Self-Care

Family

Others

These are my BIG ROCKS

I fill my day with the big chunks first. Time to mediate, pray and read my devotions ( a small book with inspirational quotes & proverbs), time to care for my body with exercise and a good breakfast. Family time, and then I move out into the world. The important things go in first.

Here is what I have found after incorporating this into my life for the last two weeks.

I have had a better outlook on life.

I am able to add more of the little things that I thought would get left on the to do list.

I am calmer.

I enjoy the start of each day.

I go to bed feeling accomplished in knowing that I have truly done all I could do for the day.

This last statement has been the key to my success in doing the BIG THINGS FIRST concept. The feeling of knowing that I did all I could do helps me put a stamp of approval on the day. This is huge for me. I believe that is what I was lacking before when I hurried around doing all that I could do all in one day. I failed to see the big things as the important things. Once I put those in first it was as if I gained more time. I know that isn’t true but it sure seemed that way. I actually had time to do all of those peripheral tasks and felt satisfied at having done them.

How does this sound to you? Is this something you already do with your day and your to do lists? I would love to hear about how you go about your day.